Sponsors of Terrorism?

The SEC list, published on the commission's website under the misleading title "state sponsors of terrorism," names a number of other European concerns as well as American companies who have dealings with Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. The companies are accused of "indirectly subsidizing a terrorist state."

Reacting to the blacklist, Siemens spokesperson Wolfram Trost told Germany's Handelsblatt financial daily that while there would be no official comment on the company's inclusion in the SEC report, Siemens' connections with the named states were "low level."

The 'naming and shaming' of Siemens in the report comes at a time when the engineering giant is still dealing with the shockwaves of its latest corruption scandal investigations.

Siemens connected to all five rogue states

The SEC list states that Siemens has business dealings with all five named "sponsors of terrorism" while BASF is linked solely with Iran. Deutsche Bank has connections with both Iran and Sudan.

Deutsche Bank spokesperson Ronald Weichert confirmed in the same Handelsblatt report that the bank's "commercial relations" with Iran and Sudan were common knowledge.

The naming of companies with business ties with rogue states, he added, was "a habit of the United States" and one that the German companies must accept.

Objections to "unclear" list

Many of the companies listed are objecting to the SEC blacklist, stating that the list does not make clear the extent of a company's business in such states or whether they still have ties. Others claim that they are being punished for their transparency in their international dealings.

Todd Malan, president of the Organization for International Investment, which represents 1,200 foreign companies with US listings, issued a statement saying that the blacklist had no threshold for judging whether a company was doing "a material level of business in a country."

SEC takes investor protection stance

SEC boss Christopher Cox retaliated by saying: "No investor should be in any doubt whether or not his investment supports -- directly or indirectly -- a terror state or a state in which genocide takes place."

Cox added that all the enterprises have been obliged for some time to disclose their activities in the "rogue states" and that the list was intended to make public what many in financial circles already knew. "Our task is to protect the investors," Cox was quoted as saying in Handelsblatt.